


Once a Paw a Time

by You_Light_The_Sky



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Crack, Don't copy to another site, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Harry the cat, M/M, Pre-Slash, Tom contemplates murdering said cat, but never actually does it, no one dies, ok i meant no one important dies, or is he???, whatever you prefer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-06 06:15:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21221933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/You_Light_The_Sky/pseuds/You_Light_The_Sky
Summary: In which Tom is still Tom, and Harry is a black cat intent on making Tom miserable. Or happy. Who knows? Certainly not Harry the cat who is absolutely just a normal cat.For the October Flash Fest Part Two 2019





	Once a Paw a Time

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [October_Flash_Fest_Part_Two](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/October_Flash_Fest_Part_Two) collection. 

> **Prompt:**
> 
> Tom is still his awful self. Harry is the black cat that keeps crossing his path to deliver luck (good or bad)
> 
> Listen I saw this prompt and I was like yes this is my jam, i will execute it terribly but I will execute it
> 
> and then i stayed up till midnight to write it

1** – cats bite**

The black cat starts showing up as Tom plots on how to terrorize Billy. At eight years old, Tom had perfect control of his magic and was enjoying the sweet revenge he could finally inflect on the inferior whelps who had dared to make him miserable.

He was about to make Billy trip down the stairs, maybe conjure up some cockroaches to crawl all over his body (always a nice touch, making Billy feel like the bug that is), when an annoying _Meow! _broke his concentration and Billy walked down the stairs unscathed.

Tom turned around to see a small black cat sitting on the top of the stairs, peering down at him. It had unsettling green eyes, bright as emeralds, and white circular markings around its eyes like glasses. But most striking was an eerie lightning shaped scar that stood out even against the cat’s fluffy black fur.

“Shoo,” he tells it.

The cat does not move. It just licks its paws.

How dare it disobey him!

He glares at it, the very walls of the orphanage shaking, but still, the cat doesn’t move. Fine then, he’ll just have to kill it.

Using all of his energy, Tom levitates some knives from the kitchen and summons them all the way to the staircase towards the cat’s neck.

As if reading his mind, the cat lunges for him and then Tom flails his arms, tumbling down the stairs, dodging seven levitating knives, and somehow the damn cat lands on all four feet, looking smugly at him, while Tom is in disarray.

Tom narrows his eyes. “Die.”

The cat bites his ear.

**2 – cats steal**

The cat is never where Tom wants it to be, so he can kill it. The moment Tom comes up with a suitable murder plan, the cat is nowhere. And yet, when Tom least expects it, the cat is _everywhere—_begging for scraps from the kitchen, getting pets from Billy and Amy, staring at Tom when he wakes up in the morning like he’s a giant mouse that the cat is _waiting _to kill.

And interfering with _all _of Tom’s plans.

He’d just stolen Amy’s doll, smiling at the sound of her tears and ready to put the doll in the perfect place within his closest, when the cat just pounces on him, grabs the doll and _steals it back!_

The next morning, Amy loudly proclaims that ‘the best kitty ever’ just found her doll for her and Tom hisses.

He tries to steal Nathan’s marbles, Billy’s hat, Sarah’s scarf, and again the _damn cat _just _STEALS THEM BACK_!

No matter what traps or magic Tom uses, the spells either seem to bounce back or the cat dodges them all! As if Tom isn’t more powerful than it, more superior!

This is war.

This cat will die.

**3 – cats hunt**

Tom wakes up to several dead mice and birds lined up neatly on his previously clean sheets.

He sees the cat smugly resting up on the wardrobe.

He tries to set it on fire.

Then he tries to throw the corpses at its smug little face and lets out a laugh when it finally _yowls _as if offended.

The dead rat sliding off the cat’s shocked and offended face stays in Tom’s mind for _days _as entertainment.

**4 – cats warm**

Winter is the worst season, Tom thinks, as he shivers in his bed. He’s glad he scared off his roommates, that no one bothers to room with him. Then no one can see him being so weak, still so cold after he nicked two extra blankets from the Matron’s supplies.

He doesn’t think about what his parents might have been like, about the parents that come to adopt the kinder children, the younger children, instead of him. He doesn’t think about the way the other orphans look at him, like a freak, a monster.

The other children have become bolder, now that the damned cat has interfered with all of Tom’s magic. There’s something infuriating about it, that makes Tom unable to concentrate from pure fury and annoyance…

Argh, if he wasn’t so cold, he’d work on his two hundredth plan to kill it…

Something warm settles by his side, nudging closer and closer. At first Tom freezes, unable to believe that something so warm is lying willingly next to him, then without thinking he grabs it and pulls it close, and hears an indignant _meow!_

Tom stops, staring down at the cat in his arms. It stares back at him blandly, as if daring him to say something.

His eyes darken into slits. “Are you feeling sorry for me?! I don’t need your pity or your help!”

The cat stares back at him with disdain. It meows again and points a paw towards Tom.

“Go sleep with the other orphans! That’s where you’ve been sleeping isn’t it?!” he hisses, not seeing red at all.

The cat makes a sigh, and then points towards the corner of Tom’s room.

He stills.

Has it… been sleeping in his room this whole time? Not with the others? But this is the first time that its ever approached his bed, but isn’t this also the first winter that the cat has been here…?

Silently, he considers it. In the moonlight, those green eyes flash back at him, brighter than before, brighter than any candles that he used to light to chase away the dark.

It’s so small in his arms.

He could strangle it right now and end it all.

…But it’s cold, and this cat is so warm, and it won’t tell anyone that he was weak.

So he slowly puts it against his chest and closes his eyes.

He sleeps for a long time, listening to it purr.

**5 – cats hiss**

Tom stares blankly as Billy and Amy stand over him and his broken cup, laughing and jeering after they pushed him. He feels nothing, ears ringing as he focuses on the blood dripping from his knuckles and the numbness in his knees that will probably bruise. He feels nothing.

He’ll get back at them later, once he out-maneuvers the damn cat. And _oh _will he make them pay—

“What the hell is, _ahhhh!_” Amy shrieks suddenly.

Tom jumps up, eyes wide with awe, as the cat jumps in front of Tom and _hisses _at Billy and Amy, all the hairs on its back raised. The cat snarls and for a moment, it doesn’t look like a normal cat. Its features are contorted together into a demonic beast’s fangs and some sort of eldritch horror combined, the stuff of nightmares, and Billy and Amy run screaming about a devil cat.

When they leave, the cat turns back to Tom, its features shifting back to normal.

Then it smiles.

**6 – cats know**

“You’re like me,” Tom breathes, exhilaration rushing through him. “You’re special. Like me.”

The cat seems to pause, considering, then it nods.

This cat that has been fixated on him since it got here, that interfered with his magic, that curled up by his side and gave him warmth, that chased away those that wronged him… How did he not realize that this cat must have been chosen to be his? His own companion, his special magical creature. _His_.

“You need a name,” Tom says immediately, ignoring the shards of the cup digging into his hands. “Are you a female? Male?”

The cat shakes its head to ‘female,’ but nods for ‘male.’ Then it scowls and paws at Tom’s hands, pushing him away from the cup shards.

Ah, how did he not notice how clever his cat is? Tom gently scoops the cat up in his arms, shushing its annoyed meows and batting paws.

“I’ll fix up my hands later. Now you need a name… something regal, that fits you perfectly, as my cat.”

“Meow?!” the cat has the audacity to sound irritated.

That’s fine. It would be boring if his cat always agreed with him. His ongoing war with the cat has only made him smarter and faster.

He thinks of Amy and Dennis calling the cat a devil. Then he smiles sharply. “What about Lucifer?”

The cat scoffs, wiggling out of his arms and jumping down towards a napkin. Too curious to be irritated, Tom watches as the cat actually claws out _letters _on the napkin, until the name _HARRY _is spelled messily before them.

“Harry?!” Tom spits out in disgust.

The cat, apparently Harry, nods.

“But that’s so boring! So ordinary!”

The cat points at him. Right. His own name is Tom Marvolo.

“Fine then. Harry Lucifer, is that good enough?”

The cat actually _shrugs _and nods.

How clever his cat is.

**7 – cats protect**

From then on, no one dares to touch Harry Lucifer. Thanks to Amy and Dennis, everyone knows that the ‘demon cat’ only responds to Tom. No one dares to pet Harry Lucifer or feed him. The kitchen staff shoo him away, calling him a dirty mongrel.

Harry Lucifer, his wonderfully clever cat, always hunts his own food. And even better, he starts bringing Tom stolen food from the Matron, canned goods and bread, so Tom can hoard it or eat his fill as needed. Whatever grudge or test the cat had for him before is now gone.

Occasionally, the cat stops Tom from going too far with his magic. Harry Lucifer never lets Tom physically harm his victims, but emotional trauma seems to be fine. Theft, also, returns as a favourite hobby for Tom.

He also _never _lets the children sneak up on Tom. Ever.

He should have claimed the cat as his sooner. Harry Lucifer is the best presence to have on his lap as he reads, and occasionally, Harry Lucifer will meow in a particular way demanding to be read to. Tom is sure his cat understands what he says while he reads as Harry Lucifer stares at him attentively at every word.

“You’re a clever thing, aren’t you?” Tom says in the reverent way he saves for the garden snakes outside. Those snakes are also so very fond of Harry Lucifer, telling Tom eagerly about the mice his cat hunts for them. They also tell him how delightful Harry Lucifer smells, like death.

Harry Lucifer only snuggles closer and purrs.

**8 – cats attack**

The moment Dumbledore comes, Harry Lucifer becomes tense. Tom follows his cat’s lead and keeps Harry Lucifer on his lap as a safeguard. Then Tom puts on his best act, as polite as possible, biting back his retort about Dumbledore being a special doctor when Harry Lucifer digs his claws into his thigh.

The visit goes pleasant because of Harry Lucifer’s calming presence. Until Dumbledore burns the wardrobe.

Then Harry Lucifer launches himself at Dumbledore’s face.

The wardrobe is restored, all the things inside it normal, and when the cat attacks Dumbledore again for suggesting Tom return the items, Dumbledore ends up running away with a worried and bewildered look at the cat’s ‘demon face.’

“Good boy,” Tom tells Harry Lucifer. “When I rule the world one day, I’ll feed you all the fish in the world.”

The cat rolls his eyes, and settles back on Tom’s lap, demanding more pets.

Tom obliges.

**9 – cats guard**

Hogwarts is beautiful and more than Tom could ever imagine. But even here, there are bullies. Tom is prepared, has been since he saw the sneers the purebloods gave him in Diagon Alley. He’s smarter than them and faster. He learns shield charms and other countermeasures to protect his belongings. He keeps Harry Lucifer with him at all times, kissing up to the professors to allow Harry Lucifer’s presence.

Only Dumbledore shuns the cat. Transfiguration is the only class where he’s separated from Harry Lucifer.

In that time, he always instructs Harry Lucifer to guard his belongings in the dorms. Without fail, Harry Lucifer is always curled up on Tom’s trunk when he finishes class, and Tom always feels a little void in him fill when he sees his cat again.

Many first years and older students have tried to ambush Tom, but Harry Lucifer has a way of always noticing his enemies and attacking first.

Tom earns the name of Demon Tamer very quickly.

He begins walking down the corridors with Harry Lucifer curled up around his neck.

**10 – cats react**

Sixth year, Tom opens the Chamber of Secrets. The Basilisk there apparently speaks ‘cat.’ She tells him that Harry Lucifer recommends that Tom use his position as Heir of Slytherin to gain more political power rather than murder mudbloods. She tells him that Harry Lucifer strongly believes the school would close forever if anyone died.

Tom looks at his cat reverently, awing at the depths of its intelligence and understanding.

His Basilisk (apparently named Sally Slytherin) and Harry Lucifer are all the companions he needs as he conquers the world.

Everything is perfect.

He’s so high on his small victory, on plans to reveal his heritage and gain political power, that he doesn’t notice the group of angry and vindictive Seventh Year Gryffindors about to lay a trap.

Harry Lucifer does.

His brave and stupid and constant cat yowls to get his attention, transforming into his demon face, but the Seventh Years have seen that face before and are not cowed.

They use slashing hexes.

Harry Lucifer jumps in the way of all of them and falls to the ground. Too still. Too quiet.

Tom sees red.

When he comes to, every one of the Gryffindors are dead by the very same slashing hexes they used on his Harry Lucifer.

Tom doesn’t think of how he’ll cover this up, of how he’ll manipulate their bodies to make it look like they killed each other in a stupid brawl. He crawls over to his cat, to Harry Lucifer’s still form, Harry Lucifer’s fading warmth.

“No…” he digs his nails into Harry Lucifer’s soft fur. “You’re not allowed to die. You’re not allowed to leave.”

Stupid, so stupid. How can he be so brilliant but stupid? How can he think of living forever and not think of preserving the life of his cat?

For the first time since he was a babe, Tom curls up around his cat’s body, and cries.

**11 – cats love**

Tom had a stupid fantasy, when he was younger, that Harry Lucifer was so smart because he was a wizard like Tom, trapped as a cat. And that one day, because Tom was brilliant, he would break Harry Lucifer’s curse. And then they’d be equals. Then they’d own the world.

And he would need no one else.

Of course, Tom knew this was childish and stupid and buried the fantasy deep. No magic in the world could curse someone as an animal forever. Harry Lucifer was neither an animagus or a Maledictus. He was just Harry Lucifer.

_No_, Tom thinks fiercely, magic leaking out of him wild and dark. _I can fix this. I can bring him back to life. _

Not as an inferi, Harry Lucifer didn’t deserve to be a mindless flesh-puppet. But soul, mind, and body, a resurrected being. Tom had read about the Deathly Hallows, he knows about horcruxes. Death cannot stop Tom from bringing his cat back.

“This is temporary,” Tom vows. “You will never leave me again.”

He kisses Harry Lucifer’s scar.

And then there was light.

And then there was a naked and dazed human boy in his lap, looking as young as fourteen or fifteen years old, with the same lightning-shaped scar and green eyes.

Unhurt.

And his.

**12 – human and mine**

Harry blames it all on Ron. Three months after Voldemort’s death, Harry had been reacting… poorly to his own PTSD, and Ron suggested drinks at a pub near the Ministry of Magic. They’d gotten piss drunk, absolutely wasted, and the next thing Harry knew, they had broken into the Department of Mysteries, found a bunch of _not destroyed time turners, _and smashed them against each other for fun. Because why not.

Also they might have freed a bunch of weird looking demonic cats because they felt sorry for them. Apparently Ron and Harry were sympathetic drunks that found any cat like beings absolutely adorable, even if said cats looked like they had been born from living nightmares.

Said cats had rubbed up against Ron and Harry in grateful petting, and soon both were covered in demonic cat hair.

And time dust.

Harry had ended up in the 1930s, at Wools Orphanage, as a bloody cat without any magic and no way home.

So he did what any sane person would do.

He started tormenting Tom Riddle. Not like he could mess up the time continuum as a bloody cat. Besides, it seemed like too much work, and Harry was just trying to pass the time before he probably died a normal cat like death.

And an annoyed baby Tom Riddle was really funny.

He’s not sure when he started feeling sorry for the future Dark Lord… probably when he saw Tom Riddle shivering in his bed alone. That’s when Harry realized that Tom was human.

And apparently his new cat instincts decided that Tom was his human and had to be protected, and so Harry accepted his fall into grey morality. He was a cat, he could do what he wanted. He hoped Ron was also suffering a fate as a demon cat too, in some other time period.

He’d given up on becoming human ages ago, unwilling to leave Tom alone at Hogwarts surrounded by bloodthirsty ambitious Slytherins. And then he didn’t have the heart to leave at all. It wasn’t like there was anywhere he could go if he ever became human again. He had no one.

Besides, being a cat is amazing.

Maybe his mind was becoming more cat than human, or maybe Harry started to care about Tom so much he stopped caring about the little things, but after a while, all that mattered was Tom.

He jumped in front of those slashing hexes without thinking, just glad for life to be over.

The next thing he knows, he sees the bloody deathly hallows symbol under his eyelids and he wakes up as a human, staring awkwardly up at Tom.

Shit. Shit. Fuck. Annnnd shit. How do people talk again?

He raises up a hand. “Uh… hi?”

Tom stares.

“Right… well… I know you must be pissed that I was human the whole time, but I was stuck, and there was a bar, and blimey, am I fourteen again? My voice is all wonky—”

Tom tackles Harry into a strangling hold, curling his head against Harry’s ear and whispering, “Mine,” over and over.

Well, Harry leans in, his cat instincts still engrained, this isn’t so bad.

:

Tom Riddle and Harry Lucifer change the wizarding world together.

Ron shows up in the timestream around the 1980s, ending up somehow engaged to Regulus Black. But that’s another story.

**Author's Note:**

> Always happy to get prompts at my [twitter](https://twitter.com/youlightthesky1), my [writing tumblr](http://youlighttheskyfanfiction.tumblr.com/), or my [art tumblr](https://youlighttheskyart.tumblr.com/)


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